Building two LNER Q's - Q7 and Q5/1

[mikemeg]

The boiler has now had a coil of lead - rolled from a 40mm x 140mm piece of 2mm lead sheet - Araldited into it, just forward of the firebox, which should give a centre of gravity for the locomotive between the second and third pairs of driving wheels. I'm aiming for a weight of around 9 - 10 oz's for the loco, which should give it all the adhesive weight it needs.

 

These things were prodigious hauliers, proving to have too much haulage capacity for much of the mineral traffic on the old NER and later LNER - similar situation to the Gresley P1's. On an early test of the class, one of them hauled some 1,400 tons; must have been a very long train given the wagon sizes and capacities of the time; too long for the sidings and the loops!!

 

The smokebox steps have been added and the smokebox door also added, with the opening knob made from a turned down Gibson handrail knob and then 'buried' into a hole in the door. The smokebox door darts are a different casting from those used on Arthur's earlier kits and are very much finer. The kit will contain two smokebox doors - the one much flatter as originally fitted when built; the other the very much more rounded door fitted to the LNER 49a boiler, which these locos carried in their later lives and as per this model.

 

So, once the boiler assembly is soldered up to the smokebox saddle (I might just Araldite this to prevent any unwanted solder straying onto the saddle) and to the petals on the cab front, the cradle can be very carefully removed and the valances dressed up level.

 

The chimney, as supplied, did not have the windjabber cast on it, so a windjabber was added prior to fitting the chimney; hence the black paint just as a proving aid. Took a little while to build up the windjabber but it was a distinctive feature of these locos.

 

Oh and the cab roof, which is not yet fixed, is sat on the cab sides wrong way round!!

 

Cheers

 

MIke

[ian@stenochs]

 

The chimney, as supplied, did not have the windjabber cast on it, so a windjabber was added prior to fitting the chimney; hence the black paint just as a proving aid. Took a little while to build up the windjabber but it was a distinctive feature of these locos.

 

MIke

Hi Mike,

 

Is wind jabber a local North Eastern term for what I know as a 'Capuchon' on the chimney? I have never heard it before.

 

Ian

[ArthurK]

The production kit will have a chimney with windjabber and it will be cast in brass. Yes windjabber is a local term for the Capuchon. NER followers call them nothing else!  The Q7s could be seen with and without the windjabber. Those allocated to Carlisle had them removed for possible working over the Waverly line but there is no evidence that than ever happened.

 

Also to be included are the forward sandboxes partially obscured by the connecting rod and step. In fact the step was bolted to sandbox and the plate did not reach the footplate. For the model (and remember we have to cater for three gauges) the steps are hung from the footplate. In their later days the sandboxes in the cab (for reverse running) were abandoned and replaced by sandboxes under the rear footplate. These were very similar, if not identical, with those fitted to other NER classes including A8, G5 and the BR built J72s. Not only was it then easier to fill them but the sandpipes was much shorter. I believe all the Q7s got these.These will also be in the kit. 

 

Mike still awaits the underframe which still needs a few changes to its design.

 

As Mike has pointed out above some of the boiler fittings are being improved.

 

ArthurK

[mikemeg]

The supporting cradle has now been removed and the valances dressed flush. To remove this cradle, with its two levels of support, I first sawed through both sides of the cradle at various points, with a very fine bladed piercing saw, to reduce the bending forces on the valance, as the cradle was taken off. This did take quite a time but saved any damage to the quite delicate valances, especially under the cab and the front footplate.

 

The tabs left on the valances, after the cradle was gradually removed, were filed off very slowly using a very fine file and they were filed on the diagonal, to reduce the horizontal forces pulling the valance away from the footplate and to effectively widen the file to prevent any gouges being filed into the valance. The key to doing this dressing of the valances seems to be 'do it very slowly; metal taken off cannot easily be put back'.

 

So now the loco body is completely free standing and can be worked on using one of the plasticard supporting cradles. I do this to prevent any damage to the footplate steps, once they are fitted.

 

Cheers

 

Mike